Why do SpaceX rockets do a bellyflop maneuver?

Question

The engineering required to do this looks insane but can anyone the reasoning for such a massive undertaking?

In: 1

Answer 1

To be clear are you referring to the SpaceX Starship?

The reason Starship does a belly flop is so that it can use Earth’s (and eventually Mars’) atmosphere help slow itself down while using minimal fuel before killing it’s velocity before landing.

The goal is to create a fully rapidly reusable rocket system and bring down the costs of kilogram to orbit significantly.